Collaborative Learning Strategies and Scenario-based Activities for Understanding Network Protocols

This paper details the experience of using both scenario-based and collaborative approaches in a test laboratory for the understanding of several transmission control protocol (TCP) mechanisms. Through the analysis of potential differences in expected and real behavior of those mechanisms in a set of pre-defined scenarios of real TCP traffic interchange, students are expected to detect misunderstandings and, even more interestingly, to design their own new scenarios for further clarification. Simultaneously, students are arranged in groups that collaborate, with the help of supporting computational tools, following a predefined activity sequence that is designed according to commonly used strategies in collaborative learning. Those collaborative strategies are selected so as to foster group work as well as to share the work load among group members without precluding student's comprehension of the whole set of TCP mechanisms. The combination of both the scenario-based and collaborative approaches also contributes to the acquisition of desirable skills linked to general competencies of engineers: scenario analysis/design, interpretation, communication, argumentation, discussion, etc. The paper details the sequence of student activities, justifies the use of collaborative strategies, describes the computational support for collaborative activities, and finally provides evaluation results of this real experience as well as the resulting findings and lessons learned